Santiago (Chile), Dec 5 The Indian junior women’s hockey team secured a dominant 4-0 win over Ireland in their final Pool C match of the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup at the Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional in Santiago on Friday. Purnima Yadav (42',58'), Kanika Siwach (12’), and Sakshi Rana (57') scored the goals for India as the team recovered from a defeat in its previous match.
India made a bright start in the first quarter and showed great attacking intent, winning an early penalty corner in the first 12 seconds of the match. However, their attempt didn't reach the goal post. India continued to pile on the pressure, winning their second Penalty Corner in the tenth minute, but the chance was squandered again.
But, two minutes later, Sakshi Rana played the perfect pass to Kanika Siwach (12') inside the circle, who skillfully went around the charging Irish goalkeeper and slotted the ball into an open net to break the deadlock.
India built on their dominant form, winning two consecutive penalty corners in the 17th and 23rd minutes respectively, but Ireland's goalkeeper Lucy McGoldrick made two strong saves to protect her goal. Ireland's first attempt at a goal came in the 24th minute of the match, which was met by a save by the Indian goalkeeper. Towards the end of the second quarter, India won their fifth PC in the 28th minute, but they couldn't capitalise on the opportunity and ended the first half with a one-goal lead.
The third quarter saw India hold the ball more and stretch the Irish defence as they continued to control the tempo of the game. In the 40th minute, India's Manisha played an incisive pass to Sukhveer Kaur, but her shot went whiskers over the post, narrowly missing the net. Moments later, in the 42nd minute, India won another penalty corner, which was perfectly converted this time as Sakshi Shukla played a strong pass to Purnima Yadav (42') in front of goal as she deflected the ball into the net to extend India's advantage.
The fourth quarter saw Ireland fight back as Eabha Curran was through on goal and took a shot towards the bottom right corner of the post; however, her attempt was stopped by a perfectly timed block by Nandini.
In the 57th and 58th minutes, India scored back-to-back goals to further build on their lead. First, Sakhi Rana (57') showcased incredible 3D skills from the left flank as she went past the defenders and took a powerful shot, beating the goalkeeper and finding the bottom corner of the goal post.
This was followed by Purnima Yadav's (58') second goal of the match as she did well to calmly deflect the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net to register India's fourth and final goal of the match.
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